Abbas: Building freeze needed prior to peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - (Analysis) January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinians President Mahmoud Abbas met in Sharm a-Sheikh with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Following the meeting, Abbas said that a complete cessation of settlement building is needed before peace talks can be taken up again. Abbas also said, "We are not opposed to renewing the peace process and the meetings with the Israelis. We are not putting up conditions, but at the same time, we believe that in order to return to the (peace) process, there needs to be a cessation of settlement building and recognition of the principles of the peace process."


'Recent change of atmosphere may mean time is ripe for talks'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Peace talks with the Palestinians must resume without preconditions, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday. Speaking at the opening of the Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu said, "My impression is that in recent weeks, there has been a change of atmosphere. I hope that the time is now ripe to move the peace process forward."

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Israeli PM hints at possible improvement in stalemated peace process with Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Editorial) January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday referred to a "change in the air" over the stalled peace process with the Palestinians, adding to speculation that the two neighbors might resume peace talks soon. "In recent weeks, I have felt that there is a certain change in the air, and I hope that this will mature, allowing the start of the diplomatic process," local daily Ha'aretz quoted Netanyahu as telling lawmakers from his Likud party at an internal meeting.

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Almost irreversible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The first decade of the twenty-first century, which ended a few days ago, witnessed the undoing of all the positive milestones and achievements that had occurred in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process in the last decade of the twentieth century. That decade started with the first international peace conference in Madrid. This was followed by the first Arab-Israel multilateral and bilateral negotiations, which ended with the signing of the first Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, the Oslo Accords.

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Jerusalem should be at the center of peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Daoud Kuttab - January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The first decade of the twenty-first century has been a disastrous one for Palestinians. Negotiations efforts were dealt a dramatic blow, historic leaders and potential leaders were killed, assassinated or imprisoned and, worst of all, the scourge of internal strife returned to Palestinians in the form of the destructive Hamas-Fateh division.

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Fayyad envisions 'state free of settlements'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - (Analysis) January 3, 2010 - 1:00am

As Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas embarks on his round of talks in Egypt in hopes of finding a basis for the renewal of peace negotiations with Israel, his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday that the future Palestinian state will be "free of fences and of settlements." In a conference held near Ramallah, Fayyad urged the international community to intervene in order to "force Israel to stop ignoring international law and the Palestinians' rights."

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Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman tells envoys not to grovel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
(Editorial) January 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has told Israeli ambassadors to stop "grovelling" and defend their national honour. He told a shocked audience of some 150 envoys in Jerusalem to "stop turning the other cheek" whenever Israel was insulted, Israeli media report. The envoys were reportedly given no right of reply at the conference. "We received a monologue without being able to hold a discussion," one unnamed ambassador told Haaretz newspaper. 'A response to everything'

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Interview With Tzipi Livni
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Charles Levinson, Joshua Mitnick - (Interview) January 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Late last month, Tzipi Livni was back in the news. Despite finishing first early last year in parliamentary elections, Ms. Livni declined to join a right-wing dominated coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and instead went into the opposition. Then, just before Christmas, Mr. Netanyahu courted her, inviting her into his government. She ultimately refused. The Wall Street Journal's Joshua Mitnick and Charles Levinson caught up with Ms. Livni days before Mr. Netanyahu's offer. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

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Peacemaking in the Mideast: Obama's Year of Missteps
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Massimo Calabresi - (Opinion) January 1, 2010 - 1:00am

It has taken President Obama just 10 months to achieve something each of his immediate predecessors delivered in their final year in office: failure in the Middle East peace process. Riding a wave of optimism in January, the President on his second day in office named retired Senator George Mitchell as his Middle East special envoy, tasked with kick-starting the dormant negotiations over a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Netanyahu proposes peace summit with Abbas this month
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later this month in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, government sources said Thursday. "There is a possibility of a breakthrough surrounding the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office said earlier Thursday. The Egyptian administration began efforts to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table following Netanyahu's recent visit in Cairo, the officials said.

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